Feds Lack Standing Over Immigrant Protection Laws, Ill. Says

By Ganesh Setty

Illinois is defending two recently enacted laws that allow private parties to sue civil immigration enforcement officers for knowingly violating their constitutional rights and bar civil immigration arrests at courthouses, telling a federal court the Trump administration lacks standing to challenge them.

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Boeing Wins Discovery Battle Over Document Clawbacks

By Elaine Briseño

A Seattle federal judge sided with The Boeing Co. in its discovery dispute with a Colorado technology company, finding that the plaintiff did not take reasonable steps to prevent disclosing privileged information in hundreds of documents it now seeks to claw back.

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Coinbase Asks Judge To Bar Ill. Action Over Event Contracts

By Celeste Bott

Coinbase urged an Illinois federal judge Tuesday to grant an injunction blocking the state's enforcement of its gaming laws against the company's sports-related event contracts offerings, arguing that effort "falls right in the heartland of preempted state laws" and that such transactions can only be regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

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Mallinckrodt's Ch. 11 Blocks Antitrust Payouts, Judge Rules

By Emlyn Cameron

A Connecticut federal judge has ruled that drugmaker Mallinckrodt PLC shrugged off monetary claims brought by states in a sprawling generic drug antitrust enforcement action when the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2022.

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Judge Tosses Fitch Suit Against Ex-Client In Malpractice Row

By Elliot Weld

An Illinois federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by intellectual property law firm Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery LLP against the co-founder of a former patent client that accused it of malpractice, saying the firm was improperly seeking a declaration on state law claims without raising a federal question.

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Ill. Café Urges 7th Circ. To Revive Licensing Bias Suit

By Lauraann Wood

A Chicago-area café urged the Seventh Circuit on Tuesday to revive claims that it was unconstitutionally denied a liquor license for a tavern it planned to acquire, saying admitted animus over the owner's effort to shed light on red-light-camera-related corruption should overcome any rational basis analysis over the denial.

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7th Circ. Questions Keeping 5 NEC Suits In Federal MDL

By Lauraann Wood

A Seventh Circuit panel seemed hesitant Tuesday to back an Illinois federal court's finding that several Pennsylvania-based necrotizing enterocolitis suits should stay in multidistrict litigation involving similar cases, as one judge suggested that supporting the lower court's fraudulent joinder analysis could put district judges in a "tough spot."

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PowerSchool, Chicago Schools Reach $17M Student Data Deal

By Hailey Konnath

PowerSchool and the Chicago Board of Education have reached a $17.25 million settlement resolving a proposed class action accusing them of violating students' privacy by surreptitiously monitoring their communications, according to a motion filed in Illinois federal court.

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Greenberg Traurig Adds Ex-Baker McKenzie Atty In Chicago

By Isaac Monterose

Greenberg Traurig LLP has hired a former Baker McKenzie attorney who specializes in real estate-focused private equity funds as a shareholder in its Chicago office.

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AI-Generated Doc Ruling Guides Attys On Privilege Risks

A New York federal court's ruling, in U.S. v. Heppner, that documents created by a defendant using an artificial intelligence tool were not privileged, can serve as a guide to attorneys for retaining attorney-client or work-product privilege over client documents created with AI, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

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Analysis

Feds' White Collar Crime Enforcement 'Retreat' Raises Alarms

By Phillip Bantz

Money laundering-related fines and tax fraud investigations plummeted last year as President Donald Trump shifted federal agents away from combating financial crime to focus on the immigration crackdown, according to recent reports that have raised alarms among experts about the state of white collar enforcement in the U.S.

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Mich. Federal Judge On Leave Amid Drunk-Driving Charges

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Michigan federal judge is taking a voluntary leave of absence while awaiting resolution of drunk-driving charges.

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10th, 5th Circ. Stalwarts Step Back From Bench

By Jared Foretek

U.S. Circuit Judge Timothy Tymkovich has announced that he'll take senior status from his seat on the Tenth Circuit, just a day after U.S. Circuit Judge James L. Dennis said he'd step down from the Fifth Circuit.

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Brief

ABA Mulls Repeal Of Embattled Law School DEI Standards

By Emily Sawicki

The American Bar Association's Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has voted to move forward with a plan to repeal its diversity and inclusion standards for law schools, which have been suspended since last February amid the White House crackdown on DEI initiatives.

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9th Circ. Grants Atty Fee Appeal In Eye Drop Pricing Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

District courts cannot reduce fee awards to attorneys based on a firm's size, the Ninth Circuit ruled in a published opinion Tuesday, sending a case back to a California federal court to recalculate attorney fees awarded to a "small" firm that represented wholesalers in a Robinson-Patman Act suit against eye drop manufacturers.

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ACLU Says Justices' Tariffs Ruling Dooms ICE No Bond Policy

By Tom Lotshaw

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling curbing President Donald Trump's authority to impose tariffs also undercuts the administration's sweeping assertion that it can subject all noncitizens to mandatory detention during removal proceedings, the American Civil Liberties Union told the Eighth Circuit.

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Analysis

Tariff-Related Disputes May Go Beyond Just Refunds

By Caroline Simson

In addition to the likely chaotic refund process to follow last week's bombshell U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the Trump administration's broad tariff regime, the decision could also result in a wide range of private commercial disputes, and possibly even investment treaty claims against the U.S.

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SEC Lays Out New Enforcement Vision In Revised Guidelines

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday updated its enforcement manual for the first time in eight years, saying that the changes were part of an effort to build a fairer and more transparent investigative process.

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SDNY's New Self-Report Policy Eases Path To Declinations

By Stewart Bishop

Manhattan federal prosecutors on Tuesday unveiled a new business-friendly corporate criminal enforcement policy for companies that promptly self-report financial crimes, promising declinations and no fines or monitors for eligible companies that turn themselves in.

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Key Details To Know As Judiciary Rules Face Decisive Votes

By Jeff Overley

Judiciary panels are poised for pivotal votes on controversial rules governing wide-ranging topics — from the age-old and analog to the newfangled and high-tech — after a six-month stretch of public hearings and trade group mobilization climaxed with an influx of impassioned opinions.

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Judiciary Seeks Control Over Courthouse Maintenance

By Courtney Bublé

The federal judiciary says courthouses are in "crisis," with an $8.3 billion backlog in maintenance, and on Tuesday repeated its request to Congress for the direct authority to maintain the buildings.

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